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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Official Thread

So Netflix added the original Power Rangers (and the spin offs) to its library and I found myself watching it again. Wow, I remember as a kid thinking this show was dreadfully cheesy, and going back to it now, I honestly don't know how I made it through 4 seasons and a movie, and an SNES game.

The bizarre 90s soundtrack, coupled with awkward voice overs from the young American actors (of the original Japanese footage) was laughable. The combat dialogue was ridiculous and the entire premise was just crazy. Dinosaurs, robots, power crystals, martial arts, monsters, demons, aliens, sorceresses, and high school. What a mess! Alpha was excruciating to watch! He was like the love child of C-3P0 and Orko.

The monsters were nuts. I remember enjoying some of the earlier creatures like King Sphinx and Madame Woe, then game a menagerie of beasts belched from the bowels of some bizarre children's nursery rhyme book. Virtually every episode followed the same formula. Monster shows up. Rangers fight. Monster gets blasted to giant city stomping format. Rangers get into Zords, stomp monster. The end.

Yet still, it has some charm to it. The original cast were great for a group of virtual unknowns. Who didn't want to hang out with Zach (Walter Jones)? Do math homework with Billy (David Yost)? Or take a karate lesson from (swoon over gorgeous) Jason (Austin St.John)? I'm sure a few guys around here gave Trini (Thuy Trang) or Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson) a second glance.

Somehow I managed to hang in there to see the Tommy, the Green Ranger, (Jason Frank) who kind of stole the spotlight from the Red Ranger, and eventually the White Ranger. At least thats how I felt about it at the time. What happened after that, I don't remember. Oh wait, at some point Goldar's face was given a massive visual update. That was cool. I think he was my favorite villain. While I do recall some of the martial arts sequences being surprisingly cool for a television budget, its hard to choke down with all the bad humor. Maybe this thread will bring together some other fans together.

... oh wait now I know why I watched this... His name was Austin St. John, the Red Ranger

I was 12 when it first came out and did preferred Sonic SatAM and other stuff but still liked Power Rangers, oh man i had a crush on Kim and thought she was gorgeous.

I liked SOnic, but yeah, in 93, Power Rangers stole my love away from Transformers. I was all about Power Rangers until Beast Wars came out in 96, and then PR started to lose my interest during PRIS and it was PRLG where I stopped watching every episode as it aired. And then I started buying DVDs and downloading fansubs of Sentai series in the early 2000s and got back into it and Kamen Rider. Now once again, they are two of my top favorite series while Transformers has driven down a road I no longer care to follow.

Can someone PM me the US number for Matty? I want to talk to someone who might has a clue of what is going on.

I doubt I'll ever venture into the other incarnations of Power Rangers. I gave them a quick preview, and while they actually seemed a lot less cheesy and far less dated than the 1993 series, I don't think I'm ready to experience Turbo, Wildforce or S.P.D

I guess I'm just looking at it for the pure nostalgia. Its kind of like watching The Wuzzles, only The Wuzzles is much less of a crazy hodgepodge.

I doubt I'll ever venture into the other incarnations of Power Rangers. I gave them a quick preview, and while they actually seemed a lot less cheesy and far less dated than the 1993 series, I don't think I'm ready to experience Turbo, Wildforce or S.P.D

I guess I'm just looking at it for the pure nostalgia. Its kind of like watching The Wuzzles, only The Wuzzles is much less of a crazy hodgepodge.

The Japanese version to Turbo, CarRanger, is freaking awesome. It is a series that was made as a parody. For example, in the first episode, the rangers are trying to figure out how much they are being paid a year to justify if it is worth becoming a ranger, so the alien kid that is trying to get them to save the planet fakes his death and after they transform, jumps up cheering. There is also a magical girl that shows up a few times during the series.

Can someone PM me the US number for Matty? I want to talk to someone who might has a clue of what is going on.

I doubt I'll ever venture into the other incarnations of Power Rangers. I gave them a quick preview, and while they actually seemed a lot less cheesy and far less dated than the 1993 series, I don't think I'm ready to experience Turbo, Wildforce or S.P.D

It's Morphin Time! I agree with Dr. Kain about Super Sentai. It is miles ahead of Power Rangers. Now that being said I do still watch Power Rangers thanks to Netflix and I am now on Power Rangers in Space. The one I refuse to watch is Mystic Force. They tried to mimic the Japanese story in their own way and it it failed miserably. I watched a few episodes that were released on DVD and couldn't really get into it. TheShadow is right though at least about Dino Thunder. It's a pretty good series. I can't say the same about Time Force because I have yet to watch it.

I've now made it to the 5 part Green Ranger story arc. I remember loving this as a kid and actually recording it on VHS (remember those funny looking things?) to watch over and over again. Also I've seen a few episodes with Scorpina. She was one of my favorite thugs in the series, and the interest may have spawned from my childhood love of Scorpia in POP.

Whats really funny is noticing the Asian actors in the original footage, and then seeing how they pair up and American counterpart in a ridiculous costume to match the kid in the scene with the monster. Too funny! Not to mention all the dubbing. Hee hee hee. This show is hilarious. The other versions of the show are probably less cheesy due to the lack of dubbed footage. I might check out SPD. One of the rangers is smoking hot. His name is Sky Tate and the actor is Chris Violette, and he's a Canadian.

Its interesting to watch the friendship between Austin' St. John and Jason Frank, because according to various sources, off screen they hated one another, and my hunky red ranger is apparently a *********. Haa haa. Austin is apparently a paramedic these days, and Jason an MMA fighter who still works in entertainment.

Whats really funny is noticing the Asian actors in the original footage, and then seeing how they pair up and American counterpart in a ridiculous costume to match the kid in the scene with the monster. Too funny! Not to mention all the dubbing. Hee hee hee. This show is hilarious. The other versions of the show are probably less cheesy due to the lack of dubbed footage. I might check out SPD. One of the rangers is smoking hot. His name is Sky Tate and the actor is Chris Violette, and he's a Canadian.

Wait until you get into Seasons 2 and 3 of MMPR (if you keep watching and get that far). The "clever" cutting back and forth between footage gets even more interesting. Rather than doing what Super Sentai always did in Japan (and what Power Rangers eventually did in the US) in having each season be a new cast with new powers, new suits, new zords/robots, etc, since MMPR was so popular and the characters and costumes were so well known, they didn't want to dump the cast or completely change their outfits. So instead they kept the same costumes for the characters, but had them get new Zords, the footage for which was from a completely different Sentai series than the one their suits are from (this is done again when the they once again get new Zords in season 3). But there were limitations to this, and that is why they transitioned from the green to the white ranger. This does, at times, lead to a bit more use of original US footage. In fact Lord Zedd was created for the US show... he was never from a series in Japan. They pretty much just start having an American actress play Rita full time and they have some excuse where she uses some kind of magic age-reducing potion on her face to explain her change in appearance. This just made it easier for her to interact with Zedd, who was made up of all original footage anyway.

Some of the battles get some clever (and some not so clever) editing If the rangers fight a monster from one sentai series with the zords from another, you get a lot of footage where you almost never see the monster and the zords in the same shot. Instead they cut back and forth to front shots of each of them punching towards the screen and things like that. Every once in a while, they will try to be clever by using footage where they use footage from the sentai series that the monster is from in which the zords from that series are covered in smoke or something, hoping that the audience won't notice that it's not the same set of zords, but if you look closely, you can usually tell. This is especially prevelant a the start of Season 2 when the five original rangers get their new Zords, but Tommy is still the green ranger for a while and still uses the Dragon Zord. Later in the season 2 (after Tommy becomes the White Ranger) there's even an interesting episode where Rita makes an evil clone of Tommy and restores the green ranger powers to give to him, and the White and Green rangers fight each other. They then have their zords battle, which is done in this same style of cutting back and forth between footage that never originally went together.

Another thing to note is that similar to the blue ranger from Power Rangers Turbo in the US, in Japan in the Sentai series that the White Ranger suit is from, that character was also a kid who grew to adult size upon transforming into their ranger/sentai form. So some of the Japanese footage that they use once Tommy becomes the white ranger has him jumping around all excited like a little kid at Christmas or something. It's funny to watch.

Zeo is when they finally started changing both the suits and zords every year, though it was a few more years before they went the route of each season starting out with a completely new cast and having each incarnation be essentially separate from the others while still existing in the same universe (allowing for crossovers, etc).

Speaking of MMPR, Ron Wasserman a.k.a The Mighty RAW released the Power Rangers Soundtrack Redux. The original composer for the theme decide to remake the whole theme into one album. Check out on his Bandcamp site and CDBaby.

So I'm almost done season 1 and I've definitely come to appreciate the lovable cast. There have been some fun and memorable quotes that still make me chuckle, like when Jason was nearly run over by a Putty during a fight "What Putties can drive? Whoa, yep! They can drive.". Jason Frank however was probably the stiffest actor, sometimes his line delivery was really awkward. The others just seemed to be more comfortable in their roles.

Its funny that Bulk and Skull are the longest running cast members, but their antics are tiresome. There were so many episodes where I wanted the main cast members to get creamed or pied, or for something wet and sticky to be splattered on them, but they always seemed to avoid the mess. I wonder if it was in their contracts not to have crap thrown in their faces.

David Yost's story hit home. Here you have a handsome, amazingly athletic man, at the start of his career, playing a nerdy superhero on tv, and he was the subject of bullying from some of the crew. He reluctantly had to leave after it became too much for him to handle, and its taken him a very long time to come forward about it. I've been watching every MMPR related video and interview online, to connect with everything I missed. It was interesting to find out that Thuy Trang was a friend of Dustin Nyguen (who I loved on 21 Jumpstreet) and sadly she hasn't been with us for a very long time now.

A well made Power Rangers video game would be awesome, unlocking monsters, playing with the bizarre menagerie of creatures, and the various Power Rangers from the different series (yes I know there is already a game with all the rangers, but it looks dated and boring), it would be fun to play. One would think that with all the money in this franchise, Saban would get on that for a whole new generation of kiddie gamers.

Jason Frank however was probably the stiffest actor, sometimes his line delivery was really awkward. The others just seemed to be more comfortable in their roles.

That's because of the story behind casting him.

Last year I met Tony Oliver at my anime convention and he said as he was going through the tapes of ZyuRanger footage to see what footage he could write stories on, he came across the episode that introduced Dragon Ranger and said he had to call Haim Saban and the others to an emergency meeting because none of them had any idea there was a 6th ranger and they had to have the episode written and filmed before the month's end. As such, they went back to their audition tapes of those were who friends with some of their staff members and went with Jason because of how amazing his martial arts skills were on the tapes.

Tony was full of many great stories from his Power Rangers days. Hell, his one about being the Wizard of Deception from the Green Ranger vs White Ranger episode was probably the best.

Can someone PM me the US number for Matty? I want to talk to someone who might has a clue of what is going on.

I'll adimit it LOL, I onced like the show!

Wait what!? David Yost got bullied behind the scenes by the crew?! Um, why? Didn't they know it was part of his character anyway . I mean he actually hung around after the original lineup into Zeo if i recall as a base support with Alpha....ugh....Alpha, it's like if Twiki form Buck Rogers somehow got ever more annoying.
But I'll admit to watching this, as I said up to Zeo on/off, until Turbo when I just plain lost interest. There were a few knock-offs as well like VR Troopers (which I thought was even lamer and felt out of date compared to others) and Big Bad Beetleborgs which I kinda liked, it felt more self-aware of how silly it all was, like the house full of dysfunctional Universal Monsters that seemed to have escaped from a Goosebumps episode led by that Casper/Jay Leno amalgam Flabber, and yes I'm sure everyone made that same comparison . But just like Sailor Moon the thing I really liked about those shows were the monsters of the day, I even had Black Knight, Eye Guy, and that big Spider thing action figures which IMO were cooler then the PR figures. Yeah some of them were pretty silly, but then there were ones that genuinely creeped me out like the Terror Toad, who actually ATE the power rangers, and their faces appeared on his belly and obviously has become the subject to some vore enthusiasts artwork, no really Google it if you're into that kinda thing LOL!

But one elephant in the room that more people bring up today, in particular Linkara's awesome guide, the whole controversy over Yellow and Black ranger being played by a black guy and an asian. Did anyone besides me not really notice that back when it debuted? It really seemed innocent enough, but then they realized it and that was part of the reason Zach and Trini were eventually phased out of the series and replaced, which was a shame cause I really liked Trini (plus I was deeply saddened to learn about Thuy Trang's death in 2001 ) , in fact after re-watching some clips I had forgotten how hot her and Kimberly were, of how funny it was to hear Kimberly impersonate Rita in a certain episode.

Just for fun, were there any MMPR monsters that you thought would have been perfect in MOTU as a Horde member or of Skele's crew, id be funny to see Snizard under King Hiss's control for example.

Visit my art page at: http://theblock.deviantart.com/ , if you like my work and have an account there to, feel free to fave or watch me, I could use the street cred !

Wait what!? David Yost got bullied behind the scenes by the crew?! Um, why? Didn't they know it was part of his character anyway . I mean he actually hung around after the original lineup into Zeo if i recall as a base support with Alpha....ugh....Alpha, it's like if Twiki form Buck Rogers somehow got ever more annoying.

He claims it was because they were constantly making remarks about his sexual orientation, but one of the higher-ups (can't remember who) says it was a pay issue. We may never know the whole truth on this one.

But one elephant in the room that more people bring up today, in particular Linkara's awesome guide, the whole controversy over Yellow and Black ranger being played by a black guy and an asian. Did anyone besides me not really notice that back when it debuted? It really seemed innocent enough, but then they realized it and that was part of the reason Zach and Trini were eventually phased out of the series and replaced, which was a shame cause I really liked Trini (plus I was deeply saddened to learn about Thuy Trang's death in 2001 ) , in fact after re-watching some clips I had forgotten how hot her and Kimberly were, of how funny it was to hear Kimberly impersonate Rita in a certain episode.

I'm more willing to believe the theory that it was because of a pay dispute, especially since Austin St. John left at the same time as Thuy and Walter. If it were simply racial, why did he leave as well?

Just for fun, were there any MMPR monsters that you thought would have been perfect in MOTU as a Horde member or of Skele's crew, id be funny to see Snizard under King Hiss's control for example.

I could see Knasty Knight and Dark Warrior as a duo; perhaps Madame Woe as a member of Skeletor's crew.

It's so funny because I never thought of the racial issue. In fact, in Dec of 93 I entered a diversity drawing contest and the Power Rangers were what I drew and I won second place. It was not until 2002 when one guy (who was black) was talking about how much he could not believe they did that and then I noticed it. In fact, last year, Tony Oliver said they never even thought of it until it suddenly appeared in the news, but since they were halfway through the first season, there was nothing they could do.

Speaking of which, look up on youtube Zordon is a Racist. It is hysterical.

BTW, in the original Japanese version, the most of the monsters are based off mythology. The Snizard (Dora-Snake) is actually the snake that tricked Eve into eating the apple of Eden.

Can someone PM me the US number for Matty? I want to talk to someone who might has a clue of what is going on.

I dunno why, but my Power Ranger interest has ignited again. Part of it is 'cause of the move recently; having all my toys in piles of boxes actually makes some of them easier to get to, and I've been messing with the last MMPR figures they made (the 4 inch ones). On top of that, I have been buying some classic games recently and I found the Power Rangers fighter on the SNES, which is dang fun! I'm trying to find out if any of the other MMPR games were any good, but it's a long process of finding the names, looking up reviews, and finding out if there were differences between SNES versions and Genesis versions (like there's a fighter on the Genesis that is totally different from the SNES one).

Anyone have any suggestions there?

Otherwise, I am also lookin' forward to those new SH Figuarts figures coming out of the Red and Green ranger, so that's got Power Rangers on my mind a lot as well. Still...not sure if I will be able to sit through the old series. Not all the way; we'll see.

"Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking." ~ Tock, the Watchdog

Alexx has a blog?! Come on in and check out Toys and Tomfoolery! You won't regret it...until the next morning.

I dunno why, but my Power Ranger interest has ignited again. Part of it is 'cause of the move recently; having all my toys in piles of boxes actually makes some of them easier to get to, and I've been messing with the last MMPR figures they made (the 4 inch ones). On top of that, I have been buying some classic games recently and I found the Power Rangers fighter on the SNES, which is dang fun! I'm trying to find out if any of the other MMPR games were any good, but it's a long process of finding the names, looking up reviews, and finding out if there were differences between SNES versions and Genesis versions (like there's a fighter on the Genesis that is totally different from the SNES one).

Anyone have any suggestions there?

I've played most of the MMPR games based on the first season, so I can give you a bit of an idea of what they're like.

Game Gear: IMO, the most fun next to the SNES version. Each stage has two phases- an on-foot fighter where you battle putties and one of Rita's monsters (or Tommy). The second phase is a battle between your zords and Rita's grown monster (or again, Tommy). Gets a bit hard toward the end, but still a lot of fun- plus, it's the only game that lets you control the Dragonzord Battle Mode (though I found it a bit disappointing).

Genesis: Pretty bad. The controls are stiff and make special moves a pain to pull off. On top of that, there are only three battlegrounds, one of which is only seen at the end, and the sound and music aren't up to par with what the console is capable of. Might be fun if you just want to play as Tommy; otherwise, not really worth it.

Game Boy: Atrocious. The controls are just as awful as the Genesis version, the gameplay is slow even by Game Boy standards, and the enemies can kill you really quickly. Even worse, your weapons are worthless because they drain your health when you use them, and your standard punch has lousy range. The boss battles consist of fight's with Rita's main minions, and the final boss is Rita herself, the only game where you fight her directly; the battles are harder than necessary and tend to be very frustrating. Not even good enough for the bargain bin.

The Sega CD version is the only one I haven't played, but it's the only one you don't need to to tell people what it's like. If you have the show on DVD, then there isn't much point in playing the game because it is nothing more than fight scenes from the first season combined with a Dragon's Lair gameplay mechanic, and worse is that it's one of those games where how much of it you are allowed to play depends on the difficulty setting you choose...for this kind of game, that could be a problem.

I've played most of the MMPR games based on the first season, so I can give you a bit of an idea of what they're like.

Game Gear: IMO, the most fun next to the SNES version. Each stage has two phases- an on-foot fighter where you battle putties and one of Rita's monsters (or Tommy). The second phase is a battle between your zords and Rita's grown monster (or again, Tommy). Gets a bit hard toward the end, but still a lot of fun- plus, it's the only game that lets you control the Dragonzord Battle Mode (though I found it a bit disappointing).

Genesis: Pretty bad. The controls are stiff and make special moves a pain to pull off. On top of that, there are only three battlegrounds, one of which is only seen at the end, and the sound and music aren't up to par with what the console is capable of. Might be fun if you just want to play as Tommy; otherwise, not really worth it.

Game Boy: Atrocious. The controls are just as awful as the Genesis version, the gameplay is slow even by Game Boy standards, and the enemies can kill you really quickly. Even worse, your weapons are worthless because they drain your health when you use them, and your standard punch has lousy range. The boss battles consist of fight's with Rita's main minions, and the final boss is Rita herself, the only game where you fight her directly; the battles are harder than necessary and tend to be very frustrating. Not even good enough for the bargain bin.

The Sega CD version is the only one I haven't played, but it's the only one you don't need to to tell people what it's like. If you have the show on DVD, then there isn't much point in playing the game because it is nothing more than fight scenes from the first season combined with a Dragon's Lair gameplay mechanic, and worse is that it's one of those games where how much of it you are allowed to play depends on the difficulty setting you choose...for this kind of game, that could be a problem.

Dang! I was hoping that the Genesis fighter was good. Heck, playing as Tommy might sell it anyway; we'll see how expensive it is and/or hard to find.

Now, I saw that there was a side-scrolling beat-'em-up for the original series and the movie on the SNES; do you know anything about those? I'm particularly interested if they are two-player.

"Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking." ~ Tock, the Watchdog

Alexx has a blog?! Come on in and check out Toys and Tomfoolery! You won't regret it...until the next morning.

Wait what!? David Yost got bullied behind the scenes by the crew?! Um, why? Didn't they know it was part of his character anyway

He wasn't bullied for being a nerd, he was bullied for being gay. I didn't specify, but I thought it would be obvious. The cast was homophobic. Considering how open he is about it now, and the interviews he has participated in, and the Trevor Project campaigning that he has been doing, I sincerely doubt he is making this up and that he left over a pay dispute.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

It's so funny because I never thought of the racial issue. In fact, in Dec of 93 I entered a diversity drawing contest and the Power Rangers were what I drew and I won second place. It was not until 2002 when one guy (who was black) was talking about how much he could not believe they did that and then I noticed it. In fact, last year, Tony Oliver said they never even thought of it until it suddenly appeared in the news, but since they were halfway through the first season, there was nothing they could do.

Speaking of which, look up on youtube Zordon is a Racist. It is hysterical.

BTW, in the original Japanese version, the most of the monsters are based off mythology. The Snizard (Dora-Snake) is actually the snake that tricked Eve into eating the apple of Eden.

The "Zordon" is a racist video is hilarious. It cracked me up, but I doubt race was ever considered when casting the characters. I think they just fit into the various character roles. Austin St. John had a great angry face, and a deep voice, he played the 'buff strong badass" leader well. Amy Jo was the bubbly, feminine cheerleader, and a skilled gymnast, hence she was the graceful pink Ranger.

If anything they are examples of contrived stereotypes to represent diversity in a kids tv show, but racism? Doubtful. Racism would be strictly casting a bland group of pretty Caucasians, and not a hunky half Mexican, a cool black guy and a Vietnamese immigant. The only people naddering about racism are ignorant adults who don't even watch the show with nothing better to talk about.